Red snapper fishing is a lure for offshore charter boats on South Padre Island. Yet, a federal regulatory council could soon reduce the recreational fishing season in federal waters to less than two weeks — in fact, the suggested season could dwindle to as few as 11 days. For the companies invested in expensive boats, who already face rising prices for gasoline and other costs, such a short window for trips is disheartening. Read more

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

Gov. Pat McCrory recently hosted a closed-door meeting with elected officials and oil industry representatives about the practice. Environmentalists and stakeholders were not invited. , touting Read More »

Sea birds, dolphins, crabs and sharks are among the species that could suffer if commercial fishers abruptly stopped discarding their unwanted catches, research shows. An international study Read More »